One of technologies that have been spotlighted in recent years is RFID (radio frequency Identification). A wireless IC (Integrated Circuit) tag that uses this technology is made up of a set of a very small IC chip and an antenna. Various types of information are recorded in the IC chip of the wireless IC tag. These information is contactlessly read by a reader/writer through the antenna or rewritten by the reader/writer. Unlike a barcode, a wireless IC tag exchanges information as radio waves with the reader/writer. Thus, the information is not largely affected by dirt, water, dust, and so forth unlike a barcode. In addition, a wireless IC tag can communicate data with its reader/writer through an obstacle. Moreover, the reader/writer can simultaneously access a plurality of wireless IC tags.
There are two types of wireless IC tags, an active type that has a power supply and transmits radio waves to the reader/writer and a passive type that only receives radio waves from the reader/writer. A passive type that is currently being spotlighted receives radio waves from the reader/writer through an antenna of the tag and generates power using their inducted electromotive force. With the inducted power, a passive type wireless IC tag drives the IC to transmit information recorded in a memory to the reader/writer corresponding to radio waves received therefrom or rewrite the information.
Since a passive type wireless IC tag does not have a battery cell, it is lighter than an active type wireless IC tag for the weight of the battery cell. Thus, the production cost of a passive type wireless IC tag is lower than that of an active type wireless IC tag. In addition, since a passive type wireless IC tag can be permanently used, it is expected that the passive type wireless IC tag will be used for many fields.
As one of major features of a wireless IC tag, when it is used, it is not necessary to contact it to the reader/writer. In addition, the distance for which a wireless IC tag can communicate with the reader/writer ranges from several millimeters to several meters (that depend on for example the frequency, output, and antenna that the wireless IC tag uses). Thus, when a wireless IC tag passes near the reader/writer or it is placed on the reader/writer, information can be read or written from and to the memory of the wireless IC tag. In addition, when an wireless IC tag passes through a gate, data recorded in the memory can be read. With these features, wireless IC tags have been used as contactless IC cards for electronic money, commuting passes, prepaid cards, and so forth.
As electronic money, there are IC card type electronic money of which a dedicated IC chip records currency value data and network type electronic money of which software of managing currency value data is installed to a personal computer or the like and a settlement is made through a network.
Among them, the IC card type electronic money, namely electronic money using a contactless IC card, has been widespread in recent years. Cash registers and automatic vending machines that can make settlements with this type IC card have been installed at various locations.
For electronic money using a contactless IC card, it is necessary to charge the IC card through a charging machine or the like. This operation corresponds to an action of which a person puts money in his or her purse. At this point, the IC card is placed, for example, on a predetermined portion of the charging machine. When the user pays money with the IC card, he or she lightly touches a predetermined portion of an automatic vending machine or a cash register of a store with the IC card or passes it therethrough. When the user charges the IC card through a charging machine over again, he or she can pay money with the IC card as many times as he or she wants.
Next, with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, outlined structures of a contactless IC card used to make a settlement of electronic money, a charging machine through which a contactless IC card is charged with electronic money, and an automatic vending machine to which payment is made with electronic money will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a contactless IC card. Hereinafter, a contactless IC card used to make a settlement of electronic money is simply referred to as “card”. A card 300 shown in FIG. 1 is made up of an IC chip 310 and a coil-shaped antenna 320. The IC chip 310 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 311, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 312, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 313, an EEPROM (Electronically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 314, a coprocessor 315, an interface 316, and a bus 317 that mutually connects these structural elements. The interface 316 includes an encoding circuit 318.
The CPU 311 controls the operations of the other structural elements to transmit and receive information between the card and the reader/writer and read and write data such as balance information recorded in the card. The ROM 312 is a read-only memory used to store a program and so forth that accomplish for example the transmission and reception of information and reading of data. The RAM 313 is a high speed memory that reads and writes data temporarily used. The EEPROM 314 is a writable memory used to mainly store data such as balance information. The interface 316 controls communications between the card and the reader/writer. In particular, the encoding circuit 318 converts data stored in the EEPROM 314 into a transmission code and transmits the converted code to the reader/writer. The interface 316 also has a function of receiving data transmitted from the reader/writer, converting the data in a predetermined manner, and updating data stored in the EEPROM 314. The description of this function will be omitted.
The antenna 320 is used to allow the card and the reader/writer to communicate with each other and to supply power to the IC chip 310. As described above, the power is an induced electromotive force based on radio waves transmitted from the reader/writer.
FIG. 2 shows a structure of a front panel portion of the charging machine through which the card is charged with electronic money. The charging machine is a kind of a reader/writer that rewrites balance information of the card according to money with which the user charges the card. The charging machine 400 has an information display section 410, a button block 420, a card holding section 430, a bill slot section 440, and a speaker 450. First, the user of the card (electronic money) places the card 300 on the card holding section 430. Next, the user selects a button corresponding to the amount of money with which he or she wants to charge the card 300 from the button block 420 and presses the selected button. The button block 420 include buttons corresponding to for example ¥ 1,000, ¥ 3,000, ¥ 5,000, and ¥ 10,000. In addition, the button block 420 includes a cancel button that cancels an operation that the user has just performed. Thereafter, the user of the card 300 inserts a bill corresponding to the amount of money with which he or she wants to charge the card into the bill slot section 440. Thereafter, the charging machine 400 compares the amount of money corresponding to the button the user has pressed with the value of the bill that he or she has inserted. When they match, the charging machine 400 displays the amount of money on the information display section 410 and updates the balance information of the card 300. Thereafter, the charging machine 400 causes the information display section 410 to display a message that notifies the user that he or she can remove the card 300 from the card holding section 430.
In contrast, when the amount of money corresponding to the button that the user has pressed does not match the value of the bill that he or she has inserted, the charging machine 400 causes the information display section 410 to display a predetermined error message. For example, when the user has tried to deposit money whose amount exceeds the depositable amount in the charging machine or when the charging machine 400 cannot read information from the card 300, the charging machine 400 causes the information display section 410 to display a message that describes the contents of such an error and proper counteractions.
When the card 300 has been properly charged with money, the speaker 450 outputs a predetermined sound that denotes that the card 300 has been charged with money. For example, this operation is performed at the same timing as the timing at which the information display section 410 displays a message that denotes that the balance information of the card 300 has been updated and the card 300 can be removed from the card holding section 430. When the information display section 410 displays an error message, the speaker 450 may not output a sound or may output a predetermined sound that is different from the sound that is output when the card 300 has been charged. Thus, the user of the charging machine 400 can know that the card 300 has been correctly charged by image information (including text information) that the information display section 410 displays and audio information that the speaker 450 outputs.
FIG. 3 shows a structure of a front panel portion of the automatic vending machine that can make a settlement of electronic money. The automatic vending machine is a kind of a reader/write that rewrites balance information of the card according to an electronic money settlement command issued by the user of the card. The automatic vending machine 500 has an information display section 510, a commodity display section 520, a button block 530, a card information detecting section 540, a coin slot section 550, and a speaker 560. The user of the automatic vending machine 500 checks a commodity that he or she wants to buy and its price on the commodity display section 520. Thereafter, the user selects a button corresponding to the commodity that he or she wants to buy from the button block 530 and presses the selected button. Thereafter, the user moves the his or her own card 300 so that it passes near the card information detecting section 540 or lightly touches it. The automatic vending machine 500 obtains balance information from the card 300 through the card information detecting section 540. When the balance of the electronic money is greater than the price of the commodity that the user has selected, the automatic vending machine 500 makes the settlement and conveys the selected commodity to a commodity slot. At this point, when necessary, the automatic vending machine 500 causes the information display section 510 to display a message describing that the settlement has been made.
In contrast, when it has been determined that the balance of the electronic money of the card 300 is lower than the price of the selected commodity according to the balance information of the card 300 or when the automatic vending machine 500 has failed to read the balance information from the card 300, the contents of the error is displayed on the information display section 510. When the user inserts a necessary coin into the coin slot section 550 of the automatic vending machine 500, he or she can buy his or her selected commodity without the card 300.
When the settlement has been properly made with the card 300, the speaker 560 outputs a sound denoting that the settlement has been made. This operation is performed, for example, at the same timing at which the message describing that the settlement has been made is displayed on the information display section 510. For example, this sound is the same as the sound used in the charging machine 400. When an error has occurred, the speaker 560 does not output a sound like the charging machine 400. Instead, the speaker 560 may output a sound different from the sound denoting that the settlement has been made. Thus, the user of the automatic vending machine 500 can know that the settlement has been made, namely the commodity has been correctly bought by image information that the information display section 510 displays and audio information that the speaker 560 outputs.
When electronic money is used with a contactless IC card, a commodity and a service can be easily bought without cash. In addition, the card can be charged in the same manner that a commodity is bought from a regular automatic vending machine that accepts cash. However, if the user incorrectly places or presents the card on or to the charging machine 400 and the automatic vending machine 500, a settlement process for electronic money including a charging operation for electronic money and a commodity buying operation will be unsuccessfully performed. As a result, the user will be forced to repeat the same operation. To prevent this situation, related art described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-197419 proposes an automatic vending machine that is modified to have a guidance means that causes the user to place a card at a proper position by a display and a sound.
However, in conventional charging machines for electronic money and automatic vending machines using electronic money, image information and audio information that are output when a settlement operation has been properly performed and image information and audio information that are output when an error has occurred are constant, not changed. Thus, several problems occur.
If these charging machines and automatic vending machines are installed nearby, when users of the cards perform settlement operations in these charging machines and automatic vending machines, each user may not distinguish a sound that is generated from a machine that he or she performs the settlement operation from others. As a result, it is difficult for each user of a charging machine or an automatic vending machine to quickly determine whether he or she can finish the settlement operation or has to repeat it again.
Moreover, in conventional charging machines and automatic vending machines, image information and audio information that are output when a settlement operation has been properly performed are different from those that are output when an error has occurred. However, for example, when the settlement operation has been properly performed, the same sound is output. Thus, conventional charging machines and automatic vending machines do not have a taste of entertainment. As a result, when users operate these machines, they do not have a fresh impression from their settlement operation, but feel monotonous.
These problems are not solved by the improvement proposed in the related art of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-197419. In other words, even if charging machines and automatic vending machines are modified in such a manner, it is not easy for the user who performs the settlement operation to distinguish his or hers from others by image information and audio information. In addition, entertainment properties of machines have not been sufficiently improved.